Amnesty International has warned that the world is entering a dangerous new phase marked by coordinated attacks on international law, multilateral institutions and human rights. In its 2025/26 State of the World’s Human Rights report, the organization describes a shift from gradual erosion to a direct assault on the foundations of the global rules-based order.
According to Amnesty, powerful states, corporations and transnational anti-rights movements are driving this transformation, using unlawful wars, economic coercion and political pressure to consolidate control and weaken accountability systems. Secretary General Agnès Callamard described the current moment as “the most challenging of our age.”
The report documents widespread violations across multiple regions, including attacks on civilians and infrastructure in conflict zones, repression of protests, and shrinking civic space worldwide. It also highlights how international justice mechanisms have been undermined, with growing impunity for violations of international law.
Amnesty further stresses that many governments have failed to respond effectively, choosing silence or appeasement instead of accountability. This reluctance, the organization argues, is accelerating the breakdown of the multilateral system and weakening decades of human rights progress.
The organization warns that the alternative being shaped is a deeply unequal, exclusionary and anti-rights global order. It calls on states, institutions and civil society actors to resist these trends, defend international norms and reinforce collective mechanisms designed to protect human rights.
Ultimately, Amnesty frames 2026 as a pivotal moment: not simply a continuation of global crises, but a turning point in determining whether the international human rights system will be preserved, reformed or replaced.
